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Emerald Spire 23.0 - Sneaking Past the Dragons
Now standing in the tunnel past the green, acrid elementals and their broken bridge, the stench of burning grey render mixing with the fumes, the group moved down the hall and into the hold that had been recently opened by the now-dead giant. It revealed a large cavern that overlooked an even larger room beyond. Marin crept up to the edge of the precipice, seeing a lake of lava fed by a falls that poured from another overhang some sixty feet away, on the far wall. Jutting through the lake was the green, glowing spire, and at its base, a pair of two lava-like creatures, their features unmistakably those of dragons. The two hissed and spat at each other, one clearly more aggressive than the other. Marin also spied a strange, slightly-glowing sigil on the rock before him. He traded places with Amara who asserted that this was the symbol of the Quicksilver Conclave along with an arrow that pointed towards the far wall. Squinting, the group could just make out a set of stairs leading from the lake up to the opposite overhang; perhaps that was the way forwards. Amara commented that the dragons were fighting; with her knowledge of the Reptilian language, she could tell that the two were bickering like siblings with one being particularly harsh and bullying towards the other. After a lengthy debate about how best to proceed, it was determined that Amara would cast Fly on Ismail and Kormon, the two stronger party members, who could then carry Amara and Marin across. Vibol and Ismail's giant centipede could climb along the walls, keeping hidden among the stalactites. They did not have the magical resources to also cast Invisibility or anything similar, so they decided to just go for it, flying across the cavern while trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. One of the dragons let out a yell but was immediately given a whack from his sister, who was so invested in bullying him that she both didn't notice the group and refused to listen to her brother's cry of intruder. Amara hissed that they had to hurry; sighting a tunnel tucked away in a corner of the upper level, they rushed for it and hoped that Vibol would have the good sense to stay hidden. They dashed down the tunnel, still flying, when they saw a strange sight: a crystalline wall sealing off an alcove. Looking it over, Marin could vaguely see things piled up in a far, elevated corner: perhaps a cage and certainly a pile of gold. Kormon warned him against it though: water could be seen up against the far side, boiling roughly. Breaking the crystal would release a flood of scalding water on them and would likely trap them with the two dragons on their tails. They could hear roaring and heavy footfalls closing in; the bullying sister must have taken heed. Though this alcove must be where the dragons kept their treasures, the group decided it was best to flee for now. Dashing as fast as they could down the tunnel towards the next floor, they eventually decided to stop and wait, to see if Vibol would catch up. About half an hour passed and when Marin was ready to give up and keep exploring, intending to go back and look later, Vibol and the centipede came scuttling down the stairs. Vibol was sad that the group wasn't planning on immediately returning to save the captive Jaquarl, but he agreed that it was better to wait for the dragons to get bored and return to their cave so that they could sneak back in and rob them by surprise. He followed after them complacently as they moved on to the next floor. The ground evened out into a proper staircase after a mile of natural tunnel, and the group soon found themselves in a finished hallway. The spire glowed brightly to one side of them and on the other was a large set of fine, iron double doors. The doors were sealed with wax and notices, and were engraved with serious warnings in various tongues that a great evil was interred within. There was absolutely no argument about leaving the doors shut, and the group, after taking the sigil of floor 11, carried on down the stairs that led ever onwards. After numerous flights of stairs, some of which led to long-abandoned and ruined rooms of various sorts, they came to a shaft with an iron ladder set into the side. Climbing down, they found themselves in a room made of the same enchanted green glass that the original outer structure seemed to have been made from. Two doors led away, but both seemed to be sealed with some sort of magic, handprint-shaped lock. Ismail noted, while investigating it, that the handprint wasn't really that of a humanoid, but perhaps a construct. Kormon had, for whatever reason, been carrying around the arms of the broken shark robot that he had fought weeks ago, and when he placed its hand upon the mark, the door opened. One door led to an ancient storeroom, filled with china, sheets, towels and rotted tea, all of which suffered from its age but little else. The other led to a hallway; an unlocked door to their right had a small washroom with a magically-powered flush toilet and cleaning station. Having used the facilities without first realizing their arcane functions, Kormon left feeling ironically dirtier than before. Category:Emerald Spire